Russian President Vladimir Putin has said again that he is confident of victory in Ukraine and that the goals of what he has called a "special operation" will be achieved.
"There is no doubt about that," Putin said during a tour of Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome in the country's far east, where he also held a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
He also defended his decision to invade Ukraine, claiming he had no alternative and that the operation served to guarantee Russian security.
"We had no other choice," Putin said, adding that conflict with "anti-Russian forces in Ukraine" was only a matter of time. International observers call this a manufactured pretext for the war, however.
Putin also said that Russia did not want to close itself off from the rest of the world. Even the sanctions with which the West reacted to the Russian invasion cannot isolate Russia, he said.
Moscow will continue to develop its technical and technological potential - especially in space, he said.
